Philly McMahon says that following Dublin at the minute is a bit like watching a Conor McGregor fight.
The eight-time All-Ireland winner is relishing the intrigue and various plot lines ahead of Sunday’s crunch relegation battle with Tyrone at Omagh.
It’s 49 years since Dublin began a league campaign by losing their opening four games, while All-Ireland champions, Tyrone are also in danger of the drop with just three points.
McMahon wonders will Tyrone ‘twist the knife’ and go for a knockout blow, or if this is the moment for Dublin to get back on track again.
“You know what, I've loved this League campaign, not only because I'm stepping back and looking at it from a different angle,” said McMahon, who is promoting this year’s Darkness Into Light run, which takes place on Saturday, May 7.
“So I love MMA. I'm a big MMA fan.
“The one thing I always liked about McGregor when he was fighting was that the opponents he was fighting, it was like, 'This could go either way. One punch this way, or that way. It could go either way.'
“It's 'Who do you think is going to win?' And you're like, 'I kind of want McGregor to win but you don't know what could happen here, like'.
“That's the way I see the games from a Dublin perspective this year. Starting off, obviously they didn't have that in the first game against Armagh.
“Then you have the Kerry game and you have your Mayo game. And every game has got something really intriguing for me about it.
“This game is the same. It's the narrative of do Tyrone stick the knife in a little bit deeper and potentially push Dublin further into the relegation battle.
“Or do the Dublin team say, 'This is the time to turn it around. What better time to do it than to do it up in Omagh against last year's All-Ireland champions?'
“So it's got a really good energy around it. Who is going to win? Who is going to perform? The week break would have done both teams good.”
Meanwhile, McMahon says it’s worrying for Tyrone that they’ve lost six of their All-Ireland winning squad, with Lee Brennan the latest to leave the panel.
The Ballymun man says the ‘wheels are wobbling’ but he can see signs that Tyrone are starting to find their feet again.
Brennan left the Tyrone panel this week, with Tiernan McCann, Mark Bradley, Michael Cassidy, Ronan O’Neill and Hugh Pat McGeary all departing in the off season.
“It would be concerning,” said McMahon.
“Any time a young person doesn't want to play inter-county football there should always be questions around it.
“From a sporting perspective, from Tyrone's perspective, from the management, from the group.
“It's quite difficult. When we won our first All-Ireland, there was that bit of a hangover - I'm talking about 2011 to 2012.
“I suppose I was very lucky to be part of a team where we realised in 2012 that we weren't really at the levels we should have been at. I'm seeing a bit of that around Tyrone at the minute.
“But there's signs that they're starting to grow into the season. But they have started slow.
“The wheels wobbling a little bit with players dropping off. (It) would be worrying in my eyes.
“Why? I don't know. Do these young players have commitments? Is it down to that? Is it down to what's going on in terms of selection?
“Is it down to maybe the pressure being a little bit more now because of them being All-Ireland champions? You just don't know.
“It's always worrying. I don't remember us losing a lot of players the following year after winning an All-Ireland. I'm not sure if we did.”
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